


Always

by SwiggityswagdatboiTed



Series: The Flash one-shots [4]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caitlin Snow Needs a Hug, Caitlin Snow has PTSD and no one ever talks about that, Christina McGee makes an appearance, Cisco is a good friend, Gen, I hate Hunter Zoloman, Kidnapping aftermath, KillerVibe if you squint, Protective Cisco Ramon, not beta read we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27010735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwiggityswagdatboiTed/pseuds/SwiggityswagdatboiTed
Summary: This is actually three prompts put into one,“Please don’t leave.”“Shh. You’re safe. I won’t let you go.”&“Hey, I’m with you, okay? Always.”
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West, Caitlin Snow & Team Flash, Cisco Ramon & Caitlin Snow
Series: The Flash one-shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992400
Kudos: 2





	Always

**Author's Note:**

> I know I already posted this once for some of you, but that was an accident cuz it wasn’t finished and then I stupidly deleted it without backing it up so I had to restart the entire thing. So, I’ve been working on it all week. interestingly enough, it came out longer than I had intended, but I’m not complaining about that.
> 
> 2021 edit: so I apologize that I’ve been gone longer than I planned. I’ve been in kind of a funk. Also since the holiday season began I only just recently got a relatively good break from work and spent most of it sleeping. But I’m currently working at 3 new fanfics right now and hopefully I’ll be ready to post at least one of them soon  
> -Ted  
> Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash in any way, shape, or form.

Cisco has no idea how she got there, but the first thing he zoned in on when he, Harry, and Jesse stepped into the cortex, was the figure standing in the middle of it.

“Caitlin!” Cisco exclaimed, happy and shocked to see his best friend standing there, physically okay from what he could tell. He jogged the rest of the distance that separated the two of them to her and pulled her into his arms. That’s when he noticed that she was shaking, and how cold her skin was. She must’ve been exhausted.

Cisco loosened his grip on Caitlin so he could lean back and get a look at her face. Her eyes were devoid of emotion, almost as if she still wasn’t here with them just yet.   
  
It suddenly hit him that Caitlin had probably been standing there for a long time. He turned to the other two people in the room. 

“Hey, can one of you-“ he was interrupted as Jesse pulled a chair up behind Caitlin seemingly out of nowhere. “Thanks.” He said gratefully to the girl as he eased her into the chair. 

Cisco dropped his hands from where they had been on her waist to keep her steady and moved one to hold one of her hands as he knelt beside her chair and pulled out his phone. He quickly sent Dr. Allen a text about the situation and to get here quickly, since he was the only other doctor the team could really trust. He froze for a second before deciding to do the same with Iris and Barry, telling them to get to the lab as soon as possible. 

* * *

It didn’t take too long for Henry Allen to arrive at the lab, and when he did he was met by Harry at the doors, who led him back to the cortex. From the moment he stepped foot into the room and saw the fellow physician sitting rigid in the chair, Dr. Allen already had an idea of what was wrong. He slowly approached Caitlin and Cisco and knelt directly in front of them, his knees popping as he did so. 

  
Cisco scooted away a little from where he sat to give the doctor and patient some room, but still never let go of Caitlin’s hand. Henry calmly explained what he was going to do before he did it, not wanting to send the girl into a state of panic. Henry slowly reached up with two fingers and rested them on her carotid to check her pulse. He noted that it was somewhat fast, and then took in her paler-than-normal skin tone and how cold she was to the touch.   
  


Carefully, Henry began to examine her for physical injuries, cringing when she winced as he pushed back the sleeve of her shirt. “I’m only looking for physical trauma.” He reassured. 

“He barely even touched me. He didn’t hurt me internationally.” Caitlin finally spoke, her voice tiny and hoarse. It took everyone by surprise because it’s the first thing she’s said since they saw her.   
  


“Let me examine anyway to quell my overwhelming need to know?” He suggested, to which she nodded in agreement.   
  
As Henry pushed back the other sleeve, he noticed a hand-shaped bruise that had formed on Caitlin’s arm, most likely from Zoom grabbing her there. When he had her lift her shirt so he could examine her midsection, he took note of the fact that her ribs were more visible than what was probably normal for her.

* * *

Once Henry had seemed satisfied with the overall exam, he pulled away and slowly stood back up. “She definitely is in shock.” He addressed the others in the room. “A little dehydrated and malnourished too but nothing too serious. Just need to make sure she eats, drinks some water, and rests some point in the day.”

Cisco thanked his friend’s father and scooted closer to Caitlin once again. He ran the pad of his thumb across the back of her hand, gaining her attention. When their eyes finally met, he spoke.   
  


“You’re okay now. I promise you we will do everything in our power to keep him from touching you again.” He spoke sternly. That statement seemed to break her. He watched as tears filled her eyes and poured down her cheeks, as her shoulders wracked with sobs before she finally fell into his embrace. He carefully pulled her into his lap and comfortingly rubbed her back as he held her.

”Shh. You’re safe. I won’t let you go. Not ever again. I promise” he whispered in her ear. A calm silence had fallen over the room that no one dared to break it. 

* * *

Cisco sat with Caitlin in his lap until her tears subsided and she started to pull away. She made her way back onto the chair that was given to her earlier and went back to just holding Cisco’s hand. The silence had not been disturbed for ten minutes when a ding from the elevator in the hallway pulled them all from their thoughts, indicating the arrival of two more presences.   
  


He looked in the direction of the elevator, trying to think of the best way to handle this for Caitlin. A squeeze to his hand directed his attention to the source. Caitlin. She sent him a small smile, although he could tell it was fake, and nodded in the direction he had been looking. 

  
“Go ahead, go catch them up to speed. I’ll be fine.” She coaxed. Reluctantly, Cisco let go of the hand he’d been holding and set off towards Barry and Iris.   
  


As he jogged to meet up with them, he heard them chatting with one another. Finally coming face to face with the duo, he stopped, out of breath. He wasn’t exactly sure how to explain the situation so he just gave them a vague warning. 

“Guys,” Cisco said breathing heavily. “You have to come see this.” He pointed back towards the cortex before turning around and jogging again, expecting Barry and Iris to do the same. On their way there, Barry tried to speak up before they made it to the cortex.

”Cisco, what are you......” He trailed off when he realize what this was all about.   
  


“Caitlin?” He said, flabbergasted (A/N: not gonna lie, just always wanted to use that word) by her sitting there in front of them all. His dad was checking her over again, his hand on her cheek which had gotten a considerable amount of color back. 

Henry sighed as he stepped back. “She’s in shock,” he reiterated what he had said to the rest of the team earlier. “A little... dehydrated and malnourished, but I think she’ll be fine.” He spoke with confidence. 

Caitlin shot Barry the same fake smile she had given Cisco before he went to greet their friends. “I’m okay.” She tried to reassure the team leaders.   
  


“What happened? How did you get away?” Barry asked, concern written all over his face as he knelt down in front of her.   
  


“He...let me go.” She said unsteadily, as if she was still surprised by that fact herself. “I didn’t think he would; I thought it was a trap. But...”

She paused to regain her composure as new tears formed in her wide eyes. “He told me you were dead.”

Barry shook his head. “I’m not. I’m right here. We’re all here. Together.” He assured her.

“Snow.” Cisco heard Harry say quietly from behind him, “Jay’s not here. You’re safe.” He spoke in a tone that he really only reserved for Jesse.

Caitlin shook her head at that, terror evident in her voice as she spoke. “He’s gonna overrun the city. You can’t stop him.” The second statement, she directed at Barry.   
  


Unbeknownst to her, Barry had a newfound surge of confidence in his abilities as of late. “Yes we can. Listen to me, he’s not going to succeed. We’ve got this. This is our Earth. ” He said assuredly.   
  


“You don’t know that. You don’t know what he is capable of.” Caitlin’s voice shook as she spoke and it only made Cisco want to hold her in his arms like he had earlier, as if it could take away all the suffering she’s been through. 

“I know, from being _in the Speedforce,_ that the universe is with us, not Zoom.” Barry said earnestly. “And if the universe is with us, how could we possibly lose? Right, guys?” He looked back to the rest of the team in the lab. None of them responded, not having the abundance of confidence he did. Finally Jesse spoke up. 

“Y-Yeah, right.” Jesse said, unsure, to try to ease the tension.   
  


Barry turned back to Caitlin. “You’ve been through a lot, you should get some rest. Come on.” He prodded gently, helping her out of the chair and leading her to a bed in her lab. He kept a hold of her hand to help ground her. 

“You were _in_ the Speedforce?” Caitlin asked incredulously as they slowly walked.   
  


“I...When you were gone. It’s hard to explain, but we tried to get my powers back, and when the dark matter lightning....” Barry answered, his voice drifting as the duo got further from the Cortex.   
  


* * *

After the two were out of the cortex, Cisco hung around for a while to talk with the others about how cocky Barry had been lately, on top of what their game plan was.   
  


Once that was all settled, he took off to where Barry and Caitlin were. Cisco walked in on the sight of his best friend laying with her back to him, sleeping peacefully on the cot, and Barry in the chair right next to her.   
  


“Hey.” Barry whispered his greeting as Cisco entered the room. His friend didn’t reciprocate and merely stated, ”She’s out like a light, huh?” In place of it.

”Yeah.” Barry agreed.”Jay really did a number on her.” 

That got a huff in response. “It’s not like he exactly used kid gloves on the rest of us.” Cisco wasn’t downplaying what Caitlin had been through, Barry knew that. This entire situation had been difficult for all of them. 

“She’ll be okay. She just needs time. And for us to finally bring Zoom down...Which we will.” He promised, locking eyes with Cisco. 

“Yeah, because the universe is with us, right?” Cisco asked skeptically. “Listen man....” he started before he was caught up in a vibe.

It was the birds again. The same dead birds he’d been seeing all day. His focus was pulled back by Barry standing in front of him, trying to get his attention. He had started to tell him about what little of the vibe he understood, when the meta-alert sounded from Mercury Labs. 

By the time Barry made it back to STARlabs with Dr. McGee, Caitlin had woken up, had changed into some STARlabs sweats, and was trying to keep herself busy in the Cortex.   
  
While the team had been going back and forth and spit-balling as to who could’ve attacked Mercury Labs, they were all blatantly trying to tiptoe around Caitlin, until she decided to speak up.   
  


“That someone, is probably Zoom.” She said, adding on to Cisco’s statement. Barry just made a sound of agreement, but Dr. McGee had another theory: 

“There may be one more possibility. A few months ago I saw Harrison Wells running out of my facility. I know it sounds crazy but I’m certain it was him.”

The three original team Flash members all shared a knowing glance with each other, debating to let Dr. McGee in on another secret of their’s.   
  


“Is there any way he could have anything to do with this?” McGee continued, seemingly oblivious to the silent conversation the trio. just had. Before any of them had a chance to speak, another voice beat them to it, alerting the small group to a new presence in the room.

“A few months ago? Sure. Now? No.” Harry spoke nonchalantly, not at all phased by the look of surprise Dr. McGee had at seeing him alive. Seeing as how they couldn’t avoid it at this point, the team did let the fellow scientist in on a few of their other secrets, knowing she wouldn’t tell anyone. 

* * *

After the team had filled Dr. McGee in, they all dispersed to different parts of the building. Jesse had pulled Caitlin aside and asked if she could run some tests in her, to look for dark matter in her system. Caitlin agreed and worked in silence until Harry showed up.   
  


When asked, she started to explain what she was doing, trailing off when she realized that Jesse didn’t want her father to know.   
  


Caitlin occupied herself with her tablet while she let the small family talk. The conversation didn’t last long and we’re about to go the Cortex when they were startled by a gasp coming from the other direction. Turning to only see Caitlin with her back to them.

  
Her posture was rigid. And it seemed like she had stopped breathing. 

“Snow? You alright?” Harry asked, concerned, as she finally turned to face the father-daughter duo. The look on her face was one of pure terror. 

“Yeah. I’m fine.” She responded unconvincingly, but Harry and Jesse dropped the issue and made their way out of her lab. 

On their way down the hallway in silence, they encountered Cisco on his way back to the Cortex as well. Harry stopped and pulled him to the side to speak with him. 

“Ramon. Keep an eye on Snow. It’s clear that she’s still a little shaken from her time with Zoom. And you know her, she’s gonna try to hide it so to not be a burden to anyone else, but that’s not gonna help her. She needs people to help her.”

Cisco just nodded once, not questioning why Harry felt the need to do so, as it was pretty clear that Caitlin hadn’t been fooling anyone. Satisfied with his response, Harry let him go and he and Jesse continued on their way. Cisco started back on his but paused when he reached the door to Caitlin’s lab, he peered inside to see his friend hunched over one of the tables, resting her elbows on it and holding her head in her hands.   
  


Leaving her be, knowing that he’d still be able to check up on her while in the Cortex, Cisco continued on his route, not surprised at all to find that Harry and Jesse had made it there before he did.   
  


* * *

Finally, after hours of brainstorming with the team, Cisco finally got to be alone with his thoughts, trying to figure out the science behind this entire dilemma. The only people left in the Cortex were Caitlin and himself, and so far they worked in a comfortable silence. Eventually, Cisco gave in to the frustration that had been building inside him and threw the marker in his hand at the board he’d been staring at, startling Caitlin from her research on the computer. 

“I thought throwing things was Harry’s preferred method of dealing with stress.” She snarked as he took a moment to compose himself before responding.   
  


“That is how frustrated I am right now. I’m-just running out of ideas as to how to make this work. Where’s Barry? I need a taste of that ‘walking on sunshine’ thing he’s got going on right now.”   
  
Caitlin didn’t respond and turned back to the computer she was on to continue with her work while Cisco took deep breaths to collect himself. He was about to get back to work when a frightened gasp shook him out of his train of thought, he quickly spun back around to face the source. Caitlin. Who was now facing him, but it was like she couldn’t see him, like she was looking at something else.   
  


“No...No...” She whimpered, stumbling back a few steps until she hit the desk she had been leaning over. The sound broke Cisco’s heart and he rushed over to her, calling out and holding an arm out between the two of them. He grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at his face, reminding her to breathe.   
  


“You’re okay, alright? You’re shaking.”

”I—I thought I saw him—Zoom.” She stuttered out. “I thought I saw him right there.”

”It’s just me, okay? Look at me, he’s not here. He’s not here.” He repeated, waiting until he saw her nod in agreement. He let his hands run down her arms as she started to breathe normally again.   
  


“I see him everywhere.”

“Look, you literally just escaped a psychopath who kidnapped you, all right, so I think it's normal for you to have a severe reaction like this.” He tried to reason with her. She just shook her head and walked away from where she was in his hold. 

“This is so much worse than that. I—I’m afraid all the time. I don’t think I can ever move forward.”

”You will.” Cisco huffed, taking a few steps closer to where she stood now.   
  
“When?” She asked. “Jay took _everything_ from me. My confidence, my trust, my sanity. I don’t think I’ll ever be whole again.” She sounded so lost and broken. Cisco wished he could just fix it all and hide her away so she’ll never have to deal with kind of pain ever again, but he can’t.   
  


“Of course you will. I promise.” He closed the gap that was between them and pulled her into a hug. He intended to keep that promise if it was the last thing he did. 

* * *

Neither knows how long they had been standing like that, but when Cisco shifted to a more comfortable position, Caitlin’s grip around him only tightened.   
  


“Please, don’t go.” She whispered in his ear. Cisco could feel a few droplets of tears hit the back of his shirt, but he just pulled her even more into him, let her feel his warmth, made sure she felt safe.

”Never. Hey, I’m with you, okay? Always.” 

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone is interested in being a beta-reader for my fics, ESPECIALLY for these Flash fanfics, PLEASE let me know because I am in desperate need of a beta.  
> -Ted  
> *10/31/2020 edit*  
> Hey all,  
> Oof. I’m sorry I know I said I was gonna make posts weekly, but I just was not in the right place mentally to write all last week. I was feeling pretty low, dysphoric (I’m trans) and then there’s all the stress happening in politics right now, also at work, we’re getting ready for Christmas (I work in retail).  
> I’m currently working on another fic but it’s a slow process. I’m hoping to get it up in the next week or two at the latest  
> -Ted


End file.
